Adventure 14: Chasing Fruit
Looking Back at their Leads
The party now had much thinking and planning to do. They had many leads to follow up, but knowing where to start was the hard part. They had tasks to complete too; there is Charles Derren whom they were under a quest to deal with. And there were these black crates which clearly came from the Underdark. And the Wish Magic books were still missing - they promised the Church of Danethrae that they would try to recover them, and the anti-Paladins were still out there, and you can bet that they'd not forgotten about the party. And there were these religious writings the party recovered from the elemental temple which seem to point at some pretty nasty things in their own futures. On top of this, Jim was becoming reasonably close to the point where he would require training; and he didn't even have a guild sorted out here in Cellam.
The starting point was the information they had to hand. Randy made a fruitless trip to the library to see if he could place the coins they'd found at any point in history. Even with the help of one of the most senior librarians, there was no joy. Nothing - it's almost as though these coins pre-dated modern history. It was quite a surprise that there seemed two size standards. One matched the modern coins pretty much exactly (perhaps the dwarfish coins adopted across human lands were not such an original idea after all) and a smaller coin, although the party only found silver coins of this size.
The party still had their scrying font available; Insorce decided that it would be good to use this once again to see if they could find those who had taken the books. It was a success; the anti-Paladins were in a camp together somewhere. They were probably travelling somewhere, but the party had no idea where they were. As one field surrounded by trees looks pretty much like another, there were no landmarks they could rely upon.
A Meeeting With the Black Marketeers
The party decided to look for the first time in detail at the religious books they had gathered. The next morning, they sat and began studying... At this point they are interrupted; the innkeeper has a letter that has been delivered for Jim by a rather shady looking character. The letter is handed over, and the innkeeper leaves them in peace. Reading through the note, Jim informed the party that he has been invited to visit a Mr Ebrim Willow at 'The Old Mooring', which is a tavern in the docks district. He assumes this must be Rogue business of one sort or another, and that he is probably safest if he does not visit the tavern alone. He asks Formil to accompany him, and they go along that afternoon, leaving the others in their inn to keep working through the books.
All the way along the journey to the docks, Formil was muttering about vampires being "one hit big" and "just gotta be quick enough", and "jus' one swing a'th'axe, thas all I need". Jim was quite relieve when they finally arrived. Inside, the tavern was was dark and smoky; hardly anyone else was here, and certainly no halflings. They ordered a quiet drink at the bar, avoiding eye contact with anyone else, then sat in the corner of the bar room, with their backs to the wall.
Eventually they were joined by a rough looking man, dressed in dirty leather armour. This man asked if they were waiting for someone. Cagily, Jim replied that he was, that he was here to meet a halfling. The man asked him to follow - alone. Then he walked off down a short corridor at the side of the bar, and into a side room; Jim obediently followed. A podgy little halfling with greasy hair looked round from the pipe he was smoking and greeted the visitor by his name. This was Mr Willow.
This is the break Jim has needed - an offer to join a guild; and much mirth was had when he learned the name of it; the South Port and North Cemdell Thief Guild (although Jim was the only one laughing at the name SPANC - his titters were met with steely-eyed stares from the others in the room. But at least it's a name he wont be forgetting any time soon). To get into the guild he has to pass a test (there had to be a catch, eh?) So the halfling tells him the story of a small statuette that is in the posession of a local family, the Collier-Jaques who live in the northern Cemdell district. They're a wealthy family, with business interests across the city - he's into glazing which is a family firm, and he works with his brother-in-law who also lives in the house. The building is home to an extended family, plus servants.
The statuette, he was told, was of a Caplup Knight, cast in silver and gold, only five inches or so tall, but reasonably valuable, and is a subject that is quite popular locally. It was also coveted by the guild. The statuette was believed to be on display on the ground floor of the building. As this was a test, there were to be some unusual restrictions placed on the job. There was to be no damage caused to the house, nobody was to witness the thief sneaking into or out of the house, nothing else was to be taken, and the family were not discover the item missing before it was handed over to Mr Willow, or one of his representatives in the same room of this tavern. As Jim is already an experienced Rogue, nobody was set to monitor his methods of recovery, but a survey by extremely competent professionals of the guild was to take place after hand-over to ensure the rules have been followed. A check with the Guards was also promised to ensure that nothing other than the statue was reported missing. The final rule was that Jim was given 48 hours to complete the task from that point. Handing over the statue was not enough to guarantee entry into the guild - all their checks were to be completed first, whereupon then Jim's first years fees of 150gp would become payable at once.
Jim gladly accepted the challenge - this was a chance to prove himself, and to get himself somewhere to train locally. He returned to Formil, and together they went back to their inn. It was mid afternoon when they arrived back.
Now it was time for more planning. Not only did the party have their original missions to handle, they now had a new job - one which Jim would be completing with very little help from the others. Jim eventually decided that it would be best to take Randy along and nobody else. He was keen to go and recover the statuette, and thought it best to go that night. He did consider Fax accompanying him, but his druid spell selection for the day was not set for this kind of mission, so he was left out of the team. Fax did spend some time shapechanged into a pigeon, taking a look at the general layout and helping them to analyse the security measures at the home; they went out there together and nonchalantly (well, as nonchalantly as you can with a gnome in robes and a rogue in studded leather armour with their pet pigeon) walked past the house a few times. They saw the outbuildings at the back, a large dog kennel at the size, and the pigeon flew up to most of the windows for a general feel of the internal layout. On the way back, they stopped off at a butchers for some raw steak, and at the apothacaries for some sleeping draught.
Another surprise came their way as they sat in quiet end of the bar room planning the detail of the raid, Earl Browly arrived at the Hotel Metropolitan (the party's inn) where he was staying for the next few days while he attended the court of the King. This was a pleasant surprise to him, and gave him a chance to catch up on the vampire issue which he'd heard nothing of for the previous eight weeks. He was tired after a long day's journey, and so invited them to his suite for lunch the next day. This was the kind of invitation that didn't come with an RSVP - the party just accepted that their presence was required, and that the Earl would be asking questions.
The planning then continued. Shortly after midnight, Randy and Jim left the inn and made it over to the Cemdell district, and found the house in the dark. First order of business was to handle the guard dogs. The steak Jim had purchased had been marinading in sleeping draught all afternoon. He shinnied up the wall and a couple of well placed lobs neutralised that threat. They returned to the shadows on the outside of the wall, and Randy made them both invisible with his Invisibility spell. Moving as quietly as you can with a dove in each armpit, they made their way to the main gate of the house. Randy used his Dimension Door spell to get them to the outside of the window of what they knew from their earlier reccie was the dining room, and they peered inside for a safe landing zone. Another Dimension Door and they were inside. They carefully checked out the dining room, but there was no sign of the statue in here. As the first Invisibility spell ran out, Randy refreshed it and then laid low in the shadows while Jim used all his rogue skill to search the other rooms.
As it happened, the search was successful quite quickly. Jim fortunately found the piece in the second room he searched outside of the dining room. Their reccie had paid off, he'd searched the main living areas first, and left the servants areas and the kitchen well alone. Putting the statue inside his jacket, he made his way back to where he knew Randy was hiding. One more Dimension Door spell and they were outside the wall of the residence in the main street. Still invisible, they headed off towards the docks district. They had discussed returning to the Hotel Metropolitan to get some sleep, but Jim was keen to pass on the statue before anyone found it had gone missing. He was also pleased with the job he'd done - they'd planned it well, and kept to that plan during the task, and it had paid off; now Jim wanted to share his triumph with the only people that would understand it properly.
While the other areas of the city were sound asleep, this place was very much alive overnight. What seemed like gangs of thugs were hovering around the street corners, Randy assumed they were looking for easy prey, and avoided eye contact at all costs. Although their previous invisibility had worn off before they reached this district, Randy added it afresh just to the statue to help get it into the tavern without being seen or raising any interest from the groups of young men here. Then Randy went invisible himself and hid in the darkness away from the gaze of any thug.
Inside the tavern, the same smoky greeting awaited Jim, only this time the bar was quite busy and the smoke much thicker. He made his way straight to the back room, as he had been instructed. Inside Mr Willow was waiting. He looked Jim up and down, and while at first he looked pleased, the more he looked the less convinced he seemed. Jim sat down at the grubby table opposite the halfing. A few pleasantries were exchanged, before Jim began inquiring about the integrity of the guild - he was about to pass on a valuable piece and didn't want to be ripped off. They did their best to reassure him, but they were keen to see the statue. Jim played for time a little while the invisibility wore off. As the exchange became more stretched and clearly more tedious to Mr Willow, Jim handed the statue over. The halfling was extremely pleased to see it; Jim thought that perhaps they'd been unsure of his ability to pull this off.
Mr Willow reminded Jim of the next part of the task - that the fees would need to be paid when the checks the guild would make the next day were complete. Jim had no qualms about any of the checks - he knew the job had been done right, so he handed over a 150gp diamond from his collection there and then; he told them that he expected that to cover the costs of his membership. They asked him to report back in a couple of days, and he left to go find Randy.
Back at the inn, Randy used the last of his Dimension Door spells to get them into their rooms without being seen by anyone in reception; now they were covered in case anyone asked questions later. They retired to bed, and slept until late the following morning.
Lunch with the Earl
With a meeting with their lord looming, and little new information to report, the party tried to put a brave face on it by smartening their appearance a litte. While a little haphazard, the overall effect was much improved. The time of the lunch meeting with Browley arrived, and they all made their way up to the Earl's suite like a condemned man walks to the gallows.
Once inside, Browley seemed to be in a reasonably good mood. He was quite keen to find out what had been happening, and why the party had ended up in Cellam. They lied, of course, telling him that they were here to investigate a temple of the kind that the vampire had been known to worship at before the Disaster. Just after the start of the meeting, with the party starting to feel a little easier, the lunch arrived. It was made up of mead and milk to drink, and fresh bread, apples and strange looking pale apricot-sized fruit. This began some speculation of the origin of the unknown fruit; it was pale, almost greenish, and was very sweet. It had a small stone in the middle, but was both unusual and pleasant. The inn described these unusual fruit as a 'speciality', as they had a reputation for introducing exotic foods. Both dwarves, however, became somewhat grouchy - there was no meat in the luch; Formil made up for this by ignoring the fruit and drinking the mead. They spent over an hour with the Earl, giving him an update which contained very little new information for him. They did assure him that they were continuing the search with some urgency. When they left the Earl's suite, they felt drained like they'd been in a fight with ogres again. Now, what were those fruit called again?
Breaking and Entering, Without the Breaking, and With Magic
After a little rest, the party decided to pursue two different fronts, and divided their efforts. Insorce, Randy and Fax tried to find a way to locate the Wish Magic books (or those who have them) using magic, but they had little success - at least with magic that was within their reach. Jim and Formil decided to take a wander down the docks, looking to see if any more of those underdark crates had arrived in Cellam. They were there for some time, wandering round, casually watching ships unload and peeking in through the open doors of warehouses. Eventually the last of the river traders arrived at the docks, and began unloading, and finally Formil spotted what they'd been looking for - a dark crate. He pointed it out to Jim, and they watched at it was loaded onto the back of a large cart. As two large draft horses sluggishly pulled the cart along the dock front, Formil and Jim, as incospicuously as they could, tagged along. The cart pulled into a place called "Burridge's Shipments"; they hung around for a while, but didn't go inside. They went back to their inn to report to the others what was going on, and to get some food.
Jim and Formil made another visit to the warehouse; they were keen to keep things low-profile for now, so it was just they who went back to find out what was going on. Now the warehouse was closed, but there were lights on inside. They walked around the place - there was no yard at this warehouse, only a large double-door in the front and a smaller security entrance at the rear. To get inside properly, they decided that they needed the others. They returned to their inn.
All five of them left for the inn shortly later, it was now well into evening and getting dark, and the nightlife that seems to gather around the docks district was really coming to life. They waited a few streets from the warehouse, while Fax, taking the form of a bird, flew over the building and tried to see what was going on inside. He returned to the party straight away, the bulding was now dark.
They all made their way over to the warehouse, and huddled up the narrow alleyway at the side of the building. After a little debate, they formulated a plan which involved everyone being invisible and creeping round the back to pick the locks on the security door. Randy took care of the invisibility, and they set off. Before Jim touched the door, Randy also cast Detect Magic just to be sure there were no magical wards placed upon it. It was clean. The problem with Security Doors, however, is that they tend to be... well... secure. Jim couldn't pick the locks - these were big professional locks of the type intended to deter thieves.
A short rethink later and the party swiched to plan B - which involved some guesswork for a landing place but meant that Randy could use Dimension Door to deliver the party to the area just behind the main entrance. This plan also had drawbacks. Randy could only take three others with him when he used this spell, and so they collectively decided that Fax would wait outside, because he was the least capable at finding things or sneaking around quietly. The landing area, it turned out, was the main loading bay of the warehouse. It was an area normally used for wheeling full carts into and out of. Unfortunately, during the night, this area doubles as a parking area for these kinds of carts. Attempting to Dimension Door into the middle of the parked carts doesn't work very well. The party bounced. They didn't go far from where they'd intended to be; they landed very nearby, and (fortunately for them) they were still inside the warehouse, if a little bruised.
They began searching. In his eagerness, Randy turned and knocked a small pile of metal plates off the back of cart they were next to - creating a crash that echoed around the large warehouse. The party stood and looked as the sound echoed and slowly died. Randy picked the plates up; quietly.
It was Randy that found the black crate. It was at the back of the loading bay behind a low partition. This area looked like a re-packing station, the crate stood open next to a low bench. Upon the bench were piled cheap boxwood apple or orange boxes. Inside the boxes, though were small apricot sized fruit, pale yellowy green in colour. These were the same fruit the party had eaten earlier that day at their inn with the Earl. Formil ate one; it was sweet and juicy. He quite enjoyed it, especially the crunchy bit in the middle. Randy kept one of the fruit as a sample - they would research this later. It looked very much like the shipping company was bringing in fruit from the Drow and selling it on as a luxury commodity to the wealthy people locally.
Now the party widened their search - they needed to find where the fruit was coming from. Jim opened up the office, which was locked with another tough lock, and he and Randy took a read through the paperwork. They found what they sought, the exotic fruits, described as 'White Apricots' were being shipped in from upriver, the supplying company was Wellington Exotic Fruits based in Cayner and Foxford; this shipment was purchased in Foxford. Jim also found invoices to both the Hotel Metropolitan and The Grand for these crates that had been provided over the last few days.
Now the party had all the information they could probably gather from here; night was drawing on, and they decided it was probably time to return to their inn and plan the next action. Dimension Door to the other side of the rear entrance was far more successful this time, and the party slipped back to the Hotel Metropolitan.
A Chance Romance?
They went into the bar. The only people in here were Earl Browley and his aide (who the party acknowledged, but did not join) and an attractive dark haired young woman, who caught the eye of the party. Jim, as the only human in the party, thought it best to pump her for information. He went over to chat, and introduced himself. She seemed quite pleased for the company, and invited him to join her (despite the catcalls from the rest of the party behind him). He made some small talk, then went on to ask her about where she was from and tried to find out if there was any information she knew that would be helpful to them. Her name she gave as 'Emma', and told them that she only arrived in Cellam that day. She was originally from Cellam, but her family had a big seafood processing and distribution in Rilm where she had been working for the past few years. Now she had returned to Cellam to enjoy some of the profits that they had built up. She seemed to take to Jim, who was trying to be careful not to get too involved with her, but he seemed to find her as compelling as she found him. He used some of his comedy skill to try to calm her down and seperate himself from the situation so he could go back to his friends. But he is quite experienced at this; within minutes he had her in stitches, and the rest of the party were chuckling along too. Now she couldn't take her eyes off him. He made an excuse about an early start, and the party retired to their suite.
Early the next morning, the party arrived for their breakfast, and Emma was already in the dining room waiting. She was sat at the back in the shaded area of the room, clearly seeking either solitude or a quiet place to sit with Jim. On his arrival, he joined her, she was extremely pleased to see him, almost gushing all over him.
They devised a plan for the days activities; Randy was to visit his Sect's library facility to see if he could find any information about the strange fruit they were investigating, while everyone else was to seek a boat to hire that could take them upriver to Foxford.
They pulled Jim away from the slobbering woman, and went out into the overcast grey morning. The docks were a half hour walk away, and as they got nearer the weather closed in. The light drizzle didn't help them find a boat with no cargo that wanted to make some fast money, and they soon discovered that most of the river shipping was operated by corporate traders; mostly shipping companies that had a small fleet of boats, and whose planning left no gaps in the schedule for taking passengers. There were a few small-time captains left, and eventually they turned one up. Aaron Grubb owned a small lugger, with a sail and one cabin. Normally he took care of independent shipments, and had few passengers. He seemed certain that it was quicker to take the highway to Foxford, but he named his price, and Jim struggled to haggle him down very far. A price was agreed and they asked to move out the next day. Aaron told them that they can leave any day they like, but the tides meant that mid-morning would be the best time to set off.
Popping Down the Grove
Further scrutiny of the fruit problem lead to Fax suggesting a trip to his grove just outside of the city. If anyone knew about fruit, it would be the druids. His friends agreed, and so they set off.
Norman Hennard was on duty in the chief Druid role, he was an understudy to the most senior druid Garal Wile, who was away on visits of some of south Ticetia's groves and woodland. When they showed him the fruit, he was most intrigued. He asked if he could taste some, and the party quickly agreed; his analysis was that it was from the underdark, and showed all the signs of having been grown in poor light conditions. It appeared, he said, to be some kind of plum. He thought the taste was unusual but pleasant, so he asked to keep the fruit with the intention of trying to cultivate it on the surface. The party gladly agreed, reproducing the fruit would be an interesting experiment.
Meanwhile, Randys research did not go as well as he'd hoped. By late afternoon, his eyes were tired, and he was struggling to find any references to the underdark at all, and certainly no reference to these fruit. Some fruit had been listed which seemed to be along the same lines, but from the descriptions these would have been much bigger and more citrous, more like grapefruit than apricots, and there were no pictures to help guide him. Eventually he gave up on fruit-based research and rounded off the day by looking at Arthean law to find out if trade with the underdark is specifically prohibited. He could find no mention of that, either; there seems to have been little experience of the underdark among human civilisation, so this could be something of a legal loophole.
The party re-convened in the common room of the Hotel Metropolitan that evening, and shared their day. Their transport was booked, they had pretty much discovered all they could locally about these unusual fruit, and had leads to their source.
Just as the day drew to an end, and darkenss fell, Emma arrived in the bar, and Jim went to spend the evening with her. She had been looking forward to his company, and ate a light meal while they chatted. He asked her about the fruit, and she seemed to know what he was talking about. She ordered the last few of the fruit that were in the building from the barman, to show Jim that she'd had some the day before. Four of the small fruit were placed before them in a small basket. Emma invited Jim to eat, but he declined her offer; he told her where they were believed to come from and that he didn't trust the fruit to be everything they seemed to be. It looked like she didn't really understand anything of the underdark, and had no comprehension of the danger in the creatures that lived there. Jim was the perfect gentleman once again as he retired to his suite with his companions; this time they really did have an early start in the morning.
Upriver
Before embarking their transport, the party got some early shopping in. They visited Pendells Hardware in the Docks and Jackson Quilley's shop in Barkage, but didn't buy any extra equipment. The only other place they went to was Jock Brewmans apothecary store for some healing provisions, they bought a healing potion (his entire supply) and some light bandages.
Boarding the boat turned out to be a little bit of an eye-opener; their sleeping accomodation consisted of a straw-packed tarpaulin on the deck of the boat, next to the few crates of cargo that the boats owner had managed to acquire. There was no hold, no lower deck, and no extra cabins on this river hauler. And to make matters worse, it was just starting to rain.
Travelling on the road is far less dangerous than travelling by water. Despite the fact no huge river serpents inhabit the River Rhoub, being cooped up in a confined space for long periods with people who would never get violent enough to actually kill you, but who are quite prepared to leave you with a painful black-eye or bloody nose, just for singing the same song to yourself for four or five days, carries its own risks. As the party found out first hand. By the time they arrived in Foxford they were nearing the end of their tether; it was a relief just to be able to walk more than ten feet away from each other. Asking a few locals along the route, they soon discovered what was widely reputed to be the best hotel in town, and they headed off there. On their own.
Foxford seemed to have nothing nice going in its favour. Maybe a third the size of Eversham, and heavily dependent upon the river-borne shipping industry, the place seemed to the party to be a little odd. The docks area is only slightly smaller than that in Cellam, but the rest of the town nestled closely around it as though trying to smother it. The older part of the city, which looks like it was once a fishing town, has been engulfed by commerce, seemingly all at once. There seems little plan to the new development, it all seems quite haphazard. The warehouse district is quite large, and some of the large storage buildings dominate the landscape. The other thing that struck the party was what seems to be a much smaller proportion of non-humnan races than the party have seen elsewhere. This made them feel a little conspicuous.
Having arrived amid the early afternoon drizzle, the party opted to spend an hour or so in quiet solitude recovering from the ordeal of being crammed into a boat like sardines (the irony being that five days on the river left them smelling like dead fish too... the suggestion is that the boats owner may have used fish oil to seal his tarpaulins). The solitude doesn't last long, however as the idleness of several days afloat with not even any walking to be done had left them itching for action. As the afternoon drew on, they ventured out to the docks area in the increasing rain and started searching for the warehouse or offices of Wellingtons Exotic Fruit in among the other warehouses and transport companies.
Despite wandering around for a couple of hours, and ending up thoroughly lost, the party struggled to find the place. It was Fax the Druid, who is much more at home in woodland and in the grasses than here in the city, who found the place. He also helped them find the way back to the inn to rest for a few hours while they dried off and waited for nightfall.
Another Day, Another Warehouse (Accompanied by Arrest and Fine)
Evening eventually arrived. Everyone was prepared, and they even put together a little plan to get inside the small warehouse office. They trudged across town in the drizzle of evening and up to the front of the building. Deciding that going in here would attract attention and raise eyebrows, they sneaked round to the rear door. This was better - a small alleyway with the back of the office building set back slightly from the main walkway. The door had a hefty lock upon it, but the party were undeterred. Jim checked it over for traps first, and after its clean bill of health on that front immediately opened it. This was a tough lock and Jim had done well. Formil waited on guard outside the door while the others scurried inside.
With both Jim and Randy searching the office inside the building, the others kept watch. Outside Formil heard the sound of approaching footsteps; a slow ambling stroll which suggested that it was someone keeping watch. He quietly sneaked inside the building and closed the door after him; he held the door so that it appeared to be locked.
Just a few moments later the sound of two sets of boots halted at the outside of the door. Formil isn't sure what happened next; he was holding the door to make it appear to be locked, and was bracing himself for when they tried it. Perhaps he was adjusting his grip slightly, but when the door handle was pushed down, he wasn't quite ready. The door opened. Then closed sharply again as Formil regained his composure. Jim and Randy, in the office to the side of the rear hallway, heard the goings on through the almost-closed door and stopped searching. Time to leave, they thought. They slipped through to the room at the front of the building, which contained a low counter and was clearly some kind of shop-front for the warehouse company. Jim set about the lock on the front door.
Meanwhile the back door was now open; Formil saw the futility of trying to deny that they were in there. Like police officers on worlds uncountable, since the earliest days of history, the Kings Guardsmen that stood there began with the immortal words "Hello, hello, hello. What's going on here then?". He looked Formil right in the eyes. Formil grunted. It was probably supposed to be "Sorry officer, nothing going on here, we're just on our way", but it came out as a grunt. Despite the fact that a couple of low-ranked Kings Guard may be little more than an annoyance for a tenth level fighter, the legal and political fallout if he actually killed them shot across the front of his mind. If he didn't end up in prison somewhere, he end up having to go home back to the delves. A little fluster and a little bit of delay in answering the really difficult questions, such as 'why are you in what was a locked office in the middle of the night when the owners are not around?' managed to buy some time for Jim and Randy. The lock on the front door had completely defeated Jim, so Randy was preparing to get them out using less conventional means - they used Dimension Door to get out into the street at the front of the building, from where they sneaked back to their inn.
Eventually Formil cracked. He, Fax and Insorce told the guards of the trade with the underdark, of the unusual fruit, and the fact that they were working from a public safey angle. This was in the Public Interest. Formil even tried (unconvincingly) to tell the Guard that the building was already unlocked when they arrived, and that they had no way to open the building themselves. Fortunately for the King, none of his Guards were born yesterday, and were not so easily duped. They could not understand, however, why these two dwarfs and and elf were in the office building in the middle of the night when they could easily have gone to the shipping company during the day and asked for help. They were more surprised than anything at the presence of a Cleric of Danethrae. The Guard have a strict process for dealing with this. One guard went off to find the Duty Locksmith for the evening (the cost of which would be covered by the party), while the other handed out the fines. 1000 gold pieces each was the punishment; payment was to be immediate. They just managed to scrape that together from their resourced when the locksmith turned up and secured the building. This cost them 250 more gold pieces. The party were told that they would have their names and their crimes circulated, so that their criminal record would be known. This also meant that the local thief guilds would quickly become aware of their unlicensed activity. They also told the party that a letter of apology should be received at the trading company from them first thing in the morning. As the fines had been paid, the Guard released the party, having detained them for over an hour, and returned to their beat. Formil, Insorce and Fax returned to their inn to reunite with their friends.
After that debacle, Jim and Randy decided to complete the job, and the Dimension Door spell was used extensively. These two slipped into the building without being noticed, searched the rest of the paperwork in the office and learned that the fruit had been shipped in through Cayner; there were no records here dealing with its ultimate origin, only the shipping notes that covered its arrival in Foxford.
Back on the Road
The party had a short night's sleep and set out onto the road early the next morning. It's only a couple of days walk north from Foxford to Cayner, but they're long marches, and the days end late. Despite being rather tired, the party did not rest in their inn on their first evening in town; they went out for a stroll around the docks and the warehouses. They found Wellington's warehouser pretty easily even in the dark, and despite attracting a few sidelong looks. They were also under the impression that they'd been followed by just about every thief guild footpad within the city walls; Fax spent his time in the form of an owl, keeping an eye on what who was watching them. Only one figure seemed to stay with them the whole time.
The following morning they arose reasonably late. The long walk to Cayner and the late finish meant they'd probably earned a bit of a lay-in, so it wasn't until mid-morning that Randy got out to his sect's facilities in the city. He was mightily surprised to find that his credentials weren't up to scratch here, though. It turns out that the last time he paid his annual membership fee was 16 months ago. To make up for it, and seeing as he is now level 9, he opted for a full 'Master' membership. The extra 80 gold pieces per year, he figured, were more than worth it. Even after paying the sect's fees, the sect's senior librarians couldn't help him with his search for information about the fruit. Some of the senior sectmembers had seen them on sale in some of the more exclusive taverns and restaurants around town (and some had even sampled them). They were very expensive.
When Randy returned, they took another walk out to the docks, and between the warehouses. The place was much more lively during the day, and the party had no trouble getting close enough for Randy to try and get a good idea for a place to land with his Dimension Door later on. They spent much of the afternoon wandering around the area, they needed a feel for the layout of some of the back alleys and side streets of the area.
The Next Warehouse Burgulary, With a Free Round of Arson
They waited in their inn until late that evening, and prepared a plan. Although the dwarves raised objections, it was generally felt that a low-profile for the evenings activities would be the best approach, considering how things went the last time that they all broke into a warehouse together. Leaving Insorce was a largely practical approach; as a Cleric of Danethrae, he really shouldn't be entering warehouses without at least the implied permission of the owner. Formil, on the other hand, was a different proposition. Taking him increased their chances of being seen and heard by about 300%, but at the same time it increased their chances of surviving if they were seen by about twice that. They chose not to take him; this was to be a stealth operation. Formil doesn't do stealth, unless 'doing stealth' involves hitting it on the head with a large axe.
Getting to the warehouse was the easy bit. Getting inside didn't prove too difficult either; OK, so it took Randy two attempts, but they got there eventually. They soon found the office door locked. Jim set about the lock, but taking his time - this was quite a tricky lock. Fax and Randy stood watch. As they watched, they slowly became aware of a dark presence behind Fax. It grabbed the unaware elf and pulled him close. Teeth sank into his neck. This was a vampire.
Formil looked up from his beer. "Your round", he said to Insorce. The cleric made his way over to the bar.
As realisation set in, Jim abandoned his lockpicking venture, while randy tried to grab both his companions and Dimension Door away. Fax, being grappled, was too close to the vampire, however, and it swung a punch at Randy. This landed full-on, and the spell was disrupted. Not only that, but the energy drain robbed Randy of the rest of his Dimension Door spells. Now the three of them were trapped. In a locked warehouse. With a vampire.
"I wonder how the others are getting on?" mused Formil. "I bet they're really enjoying themselves with all that sneaking", responded Insorce.
Jim slashed at the vampire, a soft blow, barely marked it. They backed off, as Fax changed to his owl form and flew away from the vampire who just couldn't hold on. Once they had some distance, Randy hit the vampire with his Pale Flame spell. Despite marking a few crates, and causing ice crystals to form on the floor, the vampire was otherwise unharmed. It dissolved before their eyes, its grey mist rising slowly.
"Mush be time for Bed," slurred Formil, "I dont know wha' they put in thish beer, but it's real weak." "Aye", agreed Insorce, "it'sh havin' no 'fect watsho... watsho... at all on me.". As they wobbled their way towards the stairs to their rooms, they commenced the singing of uplifiting dwarfish folk songs. The one about the gold was a particular favourite. Insorce still doesn't know what the phrase "four and twenty virgins" means...
The doors to the warehouse were locked solid. Randy had no opening magic. He had no proper blasting magic, and most of all he had no anti-vampire magic. Jim gave him the 'Wand of Fireballs' that he'd been keeping in his back pocket for just such an emergency as this. The wand was aimed at the doors, it set them on fire. The charcoal smell filled the warehouse, the carts just behind the door caught alight, but the doors held. The wand fired twice more, and finally the doors gave in. Black and smoky, Jim and Randy stood among the debris from the door, while Randy made them both invisible. They raced out of the warehouse behind the silent owl form of Fax who glided up into the night. They didn't stop running until they got back to their inn. They sneaked inside as well as they could, the invisibility spell just holding out long enough until they were back in their rooms.
"You're back early" said Insorce.
"What went wrong, you seem out of breath?" asked Formil.
A Common Sense Approach
The following morning, they all headed off the to the Warehouse district together. A different approach was clearly needed, and they wandered past the still smouldering building. The main goods entrance was burned down, the doors were ruined, and the fire had spread to the roof. Men were inside tidying up, and the Kings Guard were here in numbers asking questions. The party wandered round the back of the building, the offices were open and people were coming and going, but nobody seemed to be doing their normal job. A plan was quickly hatched.
They quickly returned to the inn where Jim used his disguise skill to conceal his own identity. He thought the bright red beard and the kilt, sporran and white socks were quite fetching, but couldn't place where he'd seen them before. The hat, he was reliably informed, was called a "Tam O'Shanter". With the others following at a safe distance (fortunately, out of Jim's earshot of the sniggers at the sight of his knees), he made his way over to Wellington's warehouse. After a few minutes watching he selected someone who looked like they would normally work in the building but was having a heavily disrupted day; there was plenty of coming and going, even from these people. As the man was outside of the building, Jim approached him.
Opening the conversation with a pleasantry, Jim started chatting. Eventually, he offered him gold for information about the source of the drow fruit. The man obliged; this was easy money, and he couldn't see any way it'd harm the company any more that the previous nights events did. He asked for an hour, and trotted off to the warehouse. When the man returned, he brought three invoices - these had the information that Jim needed. The man told him that he needed to return the invoices, so suggested Jim write down all needed. The fee of 50 gold pieces was paid, and the man went back to his business.
The people supplying Wellingtons were a small company called Jamley's Overland Traders. They're based in Corver, but appear to have a small office in Cayner (where the party are currently located). It looks like the fruit shipments have at different times been received into Jamley's own office or have been shipped directly to Wellingtons warehouse. The party now have an address in town to investigate.
They all returned to their inn. Jim changed his disguise; this time he wore a jumper with thin black and white hoops and a dark woolen beret. The thin false moustache tickled his nose, and the string of onions around his neck were both noisy and got on his nerves. He sets off alone this time; they were not expecting any trouble in the daylight.
In Custody Once More
Back in the inn, the Kings Guard arrived, asking for Formil Ironnut, Insorce the cleric, and Fax the druid. As respected Squires of Eversham, they all went quietly causing the minimum of fuss. Once in custody, the Guard give them an intensive grilling. They accused these three of burning down the Wellington warehouse. They have information about their criminal activities in Foxford, and they were known to have left there in the direction of Cayner. They told the two dwarves and the elf that the descriptions they had of the criminals that were seen in the warehouse were close to the three that they had here. Insorce refused to answer questions, he could prove he and Formil were in the inn all the previous evening, he told the Guard that he and his friends had a cast-iron alibi. He recommended that they see the barman who sold them so much beer the previous evening, and would talk no more until they had. The three suspects were seperated, and questioned individually. Insorce stuck to his guns, Formil grunted, and the Guards inquired of the barman at their inn. The two dwarves were eventually released on the statements provided by their barman. Fax, however, was not so lucky.
The barman's alibi for the Dwarves was solid, but he did not mention the elf in his statement, and so Fax remained locked up. The guards told him that they had witness statements saying that 'one Elf, one human-sized rogue and one little guy' were seen running away from the warehouse the previous evening. With Fax's previous break-in into the Wellington warehouse in Foxford reported, there was plenty of circumstantial evidence against him. Also they had been seen leaving Foxford a few days before and, along with the two dwarves, the guards knew that Fax had aquaintances with 'one Human-sized rogue and one little-guy'. They asked for the names of his two accomplices, and roughed him up a few times until eventually Fax gave in and told them. Guards were dispatched to inn immediately, but only Randy was there. Jim was out on his job. They hauled the Gnomish sorcerer in for questioning.
Once in his own private interview room, they set to work on Randy. They told him that they had eye-witness statements that said he and his two friends had been seen running from the burning warehouse the previous evening. They had a statement saying that they had been seen returning to their hotel shortly afterwards reeking heavily of smoke and being blackned with soot. The guards knew, they said, that Randy was there. They could prove it. They even roughed the gnome up a bit more, just to show him. Randy didn't crack, he admitted nothing, then whinged on about the injustice of the penal system. He couldn't believe that he could be fitted up like this; he knew damn well that both he and Jim were not seen leaving the warehouse - that Fax wasn't even running, he flitted as silently as an owl does. He knew they were still invisible and pretty quiet when they returned to their inn. Somebody was trying to frame them with a crime that they did actually do. He knew if he was truly innnocent he'd be able to admire the beauty in the way they'd been fitted up, and boldly, herically even, take action to clear his name. But he cant in this case, because he's technically guilty. Even if the evidence is largely contrived, he's guilty. What will his mother think of him?
Meanwhile, Jim, who was out on the prowl at Jamley's warehouse in disguise, had marked his target - one of Jamley's office staff. He followed the man for a while. As he did so, he walked a little faster to try and catch him up, only to find that the man walked faster too. This carried on, Jim speeding up to get closer, the man speeding up to get away. Eventually, Jim was trying to walk like an olympic walking champion and look nonchalant in the process. It wasn't working. When Jim tried to attract the man's attention, the man broke into a run. At first, Jim tried to follow, but gave up. It was pointless now, he'd frightened the man off. He returned to the warehouse office only to find the place locked and dark for the evening.
Jim was now quite disappointed with himself, so he took a stroll, still in full disguise, down to the guard station where his friends had been taken. He was not completely surprised to find that Formil and Insorce had been released, and that Fax was still in custody, and he found it quite amusing that Randy had been hauled in. He returned to his inn and slipped off his disguise and went down to the common room to find the others. He was promptly arrested. Despite pleading his innocence, he was frogmarched down to to station.
Before the Beak
The guards had virtually got their confessions from Randy and Fax, it was just Jim that proved to be a sticking point for them. Jim was the consummate professional; years of rogue training came to his aid - he found new and interesting ways to just say "weren't me, guv" and "I weren't there, ask me mum." No matter how often they roughed him up, he just wouldn't confess. Eventually the guards themselves got tired of beating him up, and dragged the three of them before a senior guard for trial. The process was all official, the witness statements were read, the confessions of Fax and Randy were read, and Jim continued to express his innocence. Swift justice took just over an hour.
They were found guilty.
The worst fears of the party were that there would be a custodial sentence. The guards do not like custodial sentences, prisons cost money, and so they avoid them if they can, also they like to rough-up different prisoners every day - doing the same ones all the time could lead to RSI. The do like fines, though. Randy and Fax were both fined 1000gp each for their crimes. Jim, who continued to claim he'd been fitted up, was fined 2000gp. Along with that, there was a small matter of compensation to the warehouse owners, a sum of 3500gp, which covered the cost of damage to the building, clearing up costs, and the cost of replacement stock that had been damaged or ruined in the fire. A whip-round among the party just managed to scrape the money to get everyone out of custody. The criminals were finally looking forward to a night in the inn, and a return to their regular adventure the following day. Now, however, they have a criminal record for breaking and entering, a criminal record that rivals Shakin' Stevens' "Green Door".
Another Another Day, Another Another Warehouse
The following day was spent quietly. They devised a plan to get information from Jamely's warehouse that didn't involve picking any locks, or creeping around at night. Late in the afternoon, Jim put on another disguise. He didn't do quite so well with this one, the eye patch was see-through, the stuffed parrot on his shoulder slipped down his back as he walked, and his fake wooden leg was an inch too short, causing him to limp at an odd angle. But he did like the overall ambience of the Pirate costume.
He headed to the docks, arriving well before the warehouse industries closed for the evening. Waiting around outside Jamley's small office and warehouse until closing, eventually the last three employees, who looked like an office worker, a security guard, and one of the warehouse men, left the building and headed to a local tavern. Jim followed them discretely, and inside the tavern struck up a conversation with them. He spent the evening buying beer and becoming friends. He'd made contact and was not concerned that his new friends wanted to leave reasonably early.
A Business Proposition
The next day Jim selected a more suitable disguise; this time it fitted better and looked the way it was supposed to look. The party took another easy day, and were soon waiting for Jim to get the information they need. Formil went to the pub where Jim planned to meet with his new friends, and he sat in the corner nursing a pint of beer and keeping an eye on proceedings. Fax accompanied Jim this time, apparently as his 'business associate'. The evening passed much like the previous one after the warehouse workers turned up. Jim eventually talked to the office guy on his own, and managed to get the information out of him he needed. Between them, Jim and Fax gave them a story about setting up their own warehouse locally, and needing good help. They suggested that there would be jobs floating around for the right people. They bought information from the Jamleys staff about the fruit suppliers. It turns out that the fruit is coming from a place called 'Shan-Habar' which is an old elven settlement which was abandoned several hundred years ago. It used to be known as Ebellana, but the elves moved on, and the place became deserted. In recent years, elves have returned, but only those who have become outcasts of their own community. These elves have been struggling to scrape a livelihood out of the area, and have been trading with everyone. The two elves handling this fruit go by the names Sanuth Alamarra and Firley Betreth. After the evening is over, the party make some plans to head out to this place.
Off to Shan Habar
The journey appears to be straightforward. They set out on the south road from Cayner to Northvale, and in a couple of days they arrived. They kept a close eye on the road ahead and behind, looking for anyone who may have been trying to follow them. They took the next stretch of the journey easy as paranoia set in, and they started to take even greater lengths to see if they'd been followed. They stayed overnight in the wilderness before arriving at Woodvale. After a nights rest here, they headed off to Corver which was two days travel away, along the east road.
At Corver, they made a few enquiries and searched the local library. They gathered enough information to make a guess at where Shan Habar was located, and they had reports of Sanuth and Firley visiting town occasionally to trade. The party moved out of here as soon as they could, heading to the northeast and along the foothills. There was a track this way, but it wasn't a proper road. Progress was slower than normal along this track, and their first night in the wilderness wasn't helped by a couple of brown bairs that saw the party as a light snack. They were clearly used to sleeping in soft beds, as Formil and Randy didn't even wake up when the fighting started. They soon hauled themselves out of their beds when they were bitten.
The settlement of Shan-Habar had a frontier feeling to it. In the outlying areas most of the elves seemed to live in temporary shelter, and they were widely spaced, with farmed woodland or fields between. Eventually, after a day or so of trudge through the outlying areas, the party arrived at a more permanent village. Here they found the offices of Sanuth and Firley. Only Firley was there - Sanuth was out of the village on business. A little light chatting soon revealed that Sanuth would be back in a couple of days, with his drow business partner. The party chose to wait. At first they seemed to enjoy the quaintness of the village campsite.
When Sanuth returned, he was introduced to the party. They told him, and his drow associate of their search for Vampires. The drow tradesman seemed to begin paying more attention at this point. When he found that the Vampire was Charles Derren, he was clearly very interested. He told the party of times from before the Disaster - where Derren had caused untold strife for the drow, and that they would be very interested in meeting him now. They desire the repayment of that debt in slow and painful ways. Questioning by the party revealed that Derren had lived in a pre-disaster city called Hollingham, where he'd brought suffering and tragedy to all. The drow promised a healthy reward if Derren could be handed over to them, preferably still (un)alive. They asked where he was now, the party could only tell them that they'd last seen him in Eversham.
The party remained in the encampment that evening; it was too late a day to begin a journey into the wilderness, so they enjoyed the elfish hospitality once more. The following morning they headed back towards human civilisation. They had decided that their plans were all out, they needed to get back on track with the vampire as quickly as they could. They felt the need for a new session in the biggest library they could find. They needed to look at all accounts of the Derren story again, and had new information which they could use to help in their search. It was felt that finding any information about Hollingham or the drow situation might reveal more details about the vampire.
The journey through the late autumn was uneventful other than for the weather; they reached the outskirts of civilisation in a couple of days, then headed as quickly as they could in the direction of Cellam. A week after they had left the elf encampment, they arrived in Northvale, and they pressed on for Cayner. Here their luck changed. It was in Cayner that they'd previously encountered the mysterious vampire that had been chasing them, to almost disastrous effect. They took a look around but could not find the villain this time, but trouble came to them. Overnight they were visited by Vampire Spawn, who they turned back but could not defeat properly. The party decided it would be wise to stay on another evening and try to tempt the enemy to attack them once again. This time, they thought, they would be ready.
True to form, the following night the vampire spawn returned. And the party were ready as planned; they held off the monsters until Insorce used his clerical Searing Light spell to destroy them one by one. This approach was very effective. The next morning, the party resumed their fast-paced hike towards Cellam. They made good speed, within another four days, they reached the outskirts of the city.